Rasendracudamani 11

English (machine translation) 11

Language: English

11.1

Rasendracūḍāmaṇi, 11
Named sulphur, orpiment, alum, red realgar, stibnite, kaṅkuṣṭha, talc, and red ochre,
These secondary minerals are declared by the wise to be rejuvenators; the excellent mercury bound by them would be the supreme rejuvenator.

11.2

Sulphur is indeed to be known as fourfold by colors, beginning with white:
The white here is called chalk-like, used in coating and the killing of metals;

11.3

And likewise there is amalasāra, which is of a yellow colour;
It is called parrot's tail-feather, and is the best in mercurial rejuvenation therapy;

11.4

And the red is called parrot's beak, excellent in the practice of alchemy;
And the black-coloured is rare, and it destroys old age and death.

11.5

Sulphur is a great rejuvenator, sweet in taste, pungent upon digestion, hot, dispeller of itching, dermatosis, erysipelas, and ringworm, igniter of the fire, digestive;
Remover and drier of unassimilated waste, poison-destroying, bestower of virility to mercury, sprung from Gaurī's menstrual blood, worm-destroying, endowed with metallic essence, and conqueror of mercury.

11.6

Formerly consumed by Bali for the sake of immense strength,
As he dragged Vāsuki, by the flame of the serpent's mouth it melted,

11.7

And the fat, rich with the smell of sulphur, flowed out from his body in every direction,
And it attained the state of sulphur; from that, sulphur became poisonous.

11.8

Therefore, the very captivating sulphur is called Bali's fat.
Steamed in milk for just one ghaṭikā and washed with water, sulphur

11.9

Melted with cow's ghee and filtered through a cloth, attains purification.
Thus purified, it casts off stones on the cloth;

11.10

The poison, resembling husk, enters into the ghee and spontaneously becomes a lump;
Thus purified, sulphur abandons the imperfection born of lead.

11.11

Otherwise, through improper diet it would kill, just like hālāhala poison when drunk.
Sulphur melted and thrown into the juice of bhṛṅgarāja is purified.

11.12

Steamed seven times with its juice, sulphur is thoroughly purified.
Having poured milk into an earthen pot and tied a cloth over its mouth,

11.13

Having placed sulphur pulverized like sand upon it,
One should cover the sulphur with a broad and long potsherd;

11.14

Above the potsherd one should kindle [a fire] with wild cow-dung cakes and pieces of dung;
Having melted and fallen into the milk, the sulphur is thoroughly purified.

11.15

Thus purified, combined with the three myrobalans, ghee, bhṛṅgarāja, and honey, licked in a dose of a śāṇa,
It makes the pair of eyes equal to a vulture's eyes, and produces a long life free from disease.

11.16

Finely powdered sulphur combined with a sixteenth part of the three pungents,
Scattered upon a cloth measuring a cubit and rolled up,

11.17

Then bound with a thread, one should submerge it in oil for one yāma;
Having held the wick with forceps, one should then ignite the whole [wick];

11.18

Melted, the sulphur falls drop by drop into a glass vessel.
One should put three drops of that liquefied extract onto a betel leaf,

11.19

And grind purified mercury measured to a valla
With the finger; then one should eat that liquefied extract and mercury together with the leaf.

11.20

It produces intense digestive fire, and destroys consumption and anaemia,
Cough, dyspnoea, colic pain, and extremely intractable chronic diarrhoea;

11.21

It quickly destroys indigestion and produces lightness.
Purified sulphur melted in an iron vessel smeared with ghee

11.22

And placed in a ladle smeared with ghee, one should take in a dose of two niṣkas;
It destroys diseases headed by consumption, and especially skin disease.

11.23

Alkali, acid, oil, sour barley-gruel, pungent things, and split pulses,
One should certainly abandon during the consumption of purified sulphur for the benefit of the diseased.

11.24

Sulphur with an equal part of black pepper, accompanied by six parts of the three myrobalans,
Rubbed with the root of the drumstick tree and drunk, destroys all skin diseases;

11.25

Its root ground in water, one should smear daily upon the body.
This formula of verified efficacy has irresistible power everywhere.

11.26

[has been] correctly proclaimed here by the illustrious Somadeva. / Having drunk two niṣkas' weight of sulphur combined with oil,

11.27

and then having smeared the entire body with juice of apāmārga and with oil and black pepper, one should then stand in the heat of the sun.

11.28

And in the third prahara one should certainly eat rice with buttermilk; / likewise, at night one should resort to a fire, and then, rising early in the morning,

11.29

smearing oneself with buffalo dung, one should bathe in cold water; / then, having anointed the body with ghee, one should bathe in wholesome warm water.

11.30

By this orderly procedure, scabies and itching, / though invincible and long-standing, are most certainly destroyed with great speed.

11.31

A thousand procedures for sulphur have not been recounted / by King Somadeva, out of fear of expanding the text.

11.32

Orpiment is said to be of two kinds: named 'foliated' and called 'lump-formed'. / Golden-coloured, heavy, unctuous, having thin leaves, and lustrous—

11.33

that is called foliated orpiment, having many leaves, a rejuvenator. / Without leaves, resembling a lump, poor in metallic essence, and likewise heavy, / destroying a woman's menses, having few virtues: that is lump orpiment.

11.34

Orpiment is said to dispel phlegm, wind, poison, blood[-disorders], and evil spirits, and it alone indeed stops a woman's menses; / it is unctuous, hot, pungent, digestive, and destructive of skin diseases.

11.35

Steamed in benincasa juice, or in sesame-ash water, / or in water mixed with lime by means of a suspension apparatus, it is purified.

11.36

Submerged in a decoction of horsegram, borax, buffalo ghee, and curds, / placed in an earthen pot, one should cover it with a perforated lid.

11.37

Having sealed it properly, one should kindle a fire increased by degrees / for just one prahara, having covered the hole with cow dung.

11.38

At the end of a yāma, opening the hole, when pale smoke is seen, / taking down the cooled pot, scraping out the metallic essence, one should extract [it].

11.39

There are millions of methods for [extracting] the metallic essences of all stones; / they have certainly not been written down by me out of fear of expanding the text.

11.40

That which is everywhere easy to perform, readily available, and fruitful / among elixirs, secondary minerals, and metals, that alone is stated here.

11.41

One should grind foliated orpiment with the latex of Calotropis for one day; / throwing in a sixteenth part of oil, having mixed it, one should then cook it

11.42

in an unroofed place for the duration of seven yāmas steadily. / Cooled of its own accord, one should collect the white metallic essence situated below.

11.43

Combined with the dung of a young male goat, / having ground orpiment with effort for a pair of days,

11.44

accompanied by the flux group, one should cast it into a glass flask; / having smeared it three times with clay and dried it thoroughly in fierce sunlight,

11.45

then inserting that flask half-way into the hole of an earthen plate, / one should kindle a fire for a duration of twelve praharas.

11.46

When cold, one should extract the white metallic essence situated in the neck of the glass flask. / Having bound half a pala of orpiment in a strong white cloth,

11.47

and smeared it carefully with sulphur, one should dry it three times. / Into three palas of melted copper one should drop the cloth-packet of orpiment,

11.48

and cover it quickly with ash; wrapped in copper, one should take the white, / soft metallic essence taught in mercurial rejuvenation therapy.

11.49

The earth that originates from the mines of Saurāṣṭra is considered alum; / it is that which is smeared on cloth to fix the colour of madder.

11.50

It is proclaimed to be of two kinds: crystalline and puffed. / Slightly yellow, heavy, unctuous, yellowish, destructive of poison,

11.51

curing ulcers and skin diseases, and especially destroying all skin diseases [is the first]. / Weightless, white-coloured, unctuous, slightly sour is the other considered: / that is called puffed alum; by anointing, it quickly moves [over] iron.

11.52

Alum is astringent, pungent, sour, beneficial to the throat, good for the hair, ulcer-healing, and antitoxic, / dispelling leukoderma, beneficial to the eyes, bestowing alleviation of the three bodily humours, and a digester of mercury.

11.53

Alum placed in sour gruel attains purity after three days. / Ground with alkalis and acids and blown, it certainly yields its metallic essence.

11.54

Realgar is said to be threefold: the dark-limbed, the oleander-seeded, / and the so-called broken piece; its form is stated distinguishingly:

11.55

Dark, red, with a fair tinge, and very heavy is considered the dark one; / brilliant, without fair tinge, and copper-hued is the oleander-seeded;

11.56

pulverised, very red in body, and heavy is the one preceded by 'broken'. / Each succeeding one is proclaimed superior, rich in metallic essence.

11.57

Realgar is the foremost of all rejuvenators: bitter, pungent, hot, destroying phlegm and wind, / essence-filled, and removing evil spirits, poison, weak digestion, itching, urticaria, and consumption.

11.58

Impregnated seven times with the leaf-juice of agastya / or with the juices of ginger, realgar is purified.

11.59

With an eighth part of iron slag, jaggery, guggulu, and ghee, / enclosed in a furnace and strongly blown, realgar yields its metallic essence.

11.60

Having made a crucible with earthworms, washed borax, and madana ground together / with the leaf-juice of bitter gourd, one should place in it

11.61

realgar ground with alkalis and acids, and then blow it; / blown for just two ghaṭikās, it releases its metallic essence.

11.62

Stibnite collyrium is declared, after that yellow mercuric extract, / antimony sulphide, and besides that zinc oxide, / and galena; their characteristics are described here.

11.63

Sauvīrāñjana is smoky-grey, cures bleeding disorders, and is cooling; / it destroys vomiting, hiccups, and eye diseases, and cleanses and heals wounds.

11.64

And rasāñjana is yellowish in appearance, cures poison and blood disorders, / relieves dyspnea and hiccups, improves complexion, and destroys disorders of vāta, pitta, and blood.

11.65

Sroto'ñjana is cooling, unctuous, astringent, sweet, and scarifying; / beneficial for the eyes, it overcomes hiccups, poison, vomiting, and aggravation of kapha, pitta, and blood.

11.66

Puṣpāñjana is white, unctuous, cooling, and relieves all eye diseases; / it destroys exceptionally intractable hiccups and cures poison and fever disorders.

11.67

Nīlāñjana is heavy, unctuous, beneficial for the eyes, and removes the three humours; / it is a rasāyana, kills gold, and makes iron soft.

11.68

Collyrium minerals are purified by the juice of bhṛṅgarāja leaves. / One should extract the metallic essence of collyrium minerals just like the essence of realgar.

11.69

Kaṅkuṣṭha is produced on the foothills of the Himalayas. / There, one [variety] is named nalikā, and the other is regarded as reṇuka.

11.70

The first kaṅkuṣṭha has a yellow luster, is heavy, unctuous, and superior. / The reṇuka is dark, yellow, light, devoid of metallic essence, and indeed undesirable.

11.71

Some say that kaṅkuṣṭha is the dung of a newborn elephant; / it has a dark-yellow hue and is said to be a purgative.

11.72

Some call the umbilical cord of swift horses kaṅkuṣṭha; / it is whitish-yellow in appearance and is an extreme purgative.

11.73

It is best in mercurial operations and rasāyana; when devoid of metallic essence, it causes much harm. / Kaṅkuṣṭha is bitter, pungent, hot in potency, and an extreme purgative;

11.74

it cures wounds, upward movement of vāyu, the pain of colic, abdominal lumps, spleen disorders, and rectal disorders. / Kaṅkuṣṭha attains purification when impregnated three times with the water of triphalā.

11.75

Extraction of its metallic essence is not taught, because it consists entirely of metallic essence. / One should administer it for the purpose of purgation with astringents in a dose of a barley corn.

11.76

By purging in only an instant, it destroys the foulness of undigested matter; / consumed along with betel leaves, by purging it quickly destroys [it].

11.77

A man should repeatedly drink equal parts of a decoction of acacia root, cumin, and borax / to destroy the toxicity of kaṅkuṣṭha.

11.78

Kāsīsa is of two types: one named vālukākāsīsa and the other puṣpakāsīsa. / Vālukākāsīsa is alkaline, sour, heavy, smoky in appearance, hot in potency, and cures poison; / it destroys leucoderma and dyes hair.

11.79

Puṣpakāsīsa is celebrated, hot, astringent, sour, and exceedingly beneficial for the eyes; / it cures poison, disorders of vāta and kapha, and wounds, destroys leucoderma and consumption, and dyes the hair.

11.80

Moistened once with bhṛṅgarāja juice, kāsīsa becomes spotless. / One should extract its metallic essence just like the essence of alum.

11.81

Kāsīsa killed with sulphur, and lodestone killed with kāsīsa, / both in equal parts, combined with triphalā and viḍaṅga,

11.82

soaked in unequal parts of ghee and honey, in the measure of a śāṇa, taken in the morning, / rapidly destroys leucoderma, jaundice, and consumption diseases,

11.83

abdominal lumps, spleen disease, colic, and all urinary disorders. / Taken according to the procedure of rasāyana for the duration of a year,

11.84

it is excellent for drying up undigested matter and kindling a weak digestive fire; / it definitely destroys grey hair along with wrinkles.

11.85

Gairika is of two types: one is pāṣāṇagairika, and the second is svarṇagairika. / Pāṣāṇagairika is said to be hard and copper-colored.

11.86

It is sweet, unctuous, cooling, beneficial for the eyes, astringent, and cures bleeding disorders.

11.87

Svarṇagairika destroys hiccups, vomiting, poison, and bleeding disorders; / the other, pāṣāṇagairika, is slightly inferior in qualities compared to the former.

11.88

Gairika indeed attains purification when impregnated with cow's milk. / For gairika is proclaimed by Nandin to be of the nature of metallic essence.

11.89

By some it is said that essence falls from gairika steamed with alkalis and acids; / it serves mercury, possessing unity [with it and] superior qualities.

11.90

Kampilla, and another gaurīpāṣāṇa, navasāra, / cowrie shell, and vahnijāra, girisindūra, and cinnabar,

11.91

and boddāraśṛṅga—these eight are regarded as the common minerals; / they are declared by Nāgārjuna and others to bring about success with mercury.

11.92

Resembling brick dust, full of luster, an extreme purgative, / and originating in the country of Saurāṣṭra: that is known as kampillaka.

11.93

It destroys pitta, wounds, flatulence, and constipation; it is the enemy of kapha, abdominal diseases, worms, and abdominal lumps; / it cures piles, undigested toxins, colic, fever, and edema: kampillaka is the remover of diseases treatable by purgation.

11.94

Gaurīpāṣāṇaka is yellow, uneven, and in the form of a crushed powder; / it causes the binding of mercury, is unctuous, destroys blemishes, and produces potency in mercury.

11.95

That which arises when the wood of karīra and pīlu is cooked / is an alkali called navasāra, also named cūlikālavaṇa.

11.96

The white, light salt produced in the burning of bricks / is said to be called navasāra, and that is cūlikālavaṇa.

11.97

It digests mercury, liquefies iron, and stimulates the gastric fire; / it cures abdominal lumps, spleen disease, and dryness of the mouth, digests consumed meat and the like, / is termed viḍa, destroys the three humours, and is regarded as cūlikālavaṇa.

11.98

Yellowish in appearance, nodular on the back, and having a long slit, such a cowrie
is designated as *carācara* by the iatrochemists.

11.99

One measuring one and a half *niṣka*s is superior, weighing one *niṣka* is middling,
and weighing three-quarters of a *niṣka* is said to be inferior.

11.100

It relieves peptic pain and related conditions, cures sprue and consumption,
is pungent, heating, appetising, aphrodisiac, beneficial for the eyes, and pacifies wind and phlegm.

11.101

It is prescribed for the digestion of mercury, and is praised among the substances of an alchemical flux.
Other cowries, however, are heavy and increase phlegm and bile.

11.102

They repeatedly destroy beneficial qualities and do not fail to produce disorders.
Cowries steamed in sour gruel for one watch attain purification.

11.103

Cast out by the sea, the placenta of the fire-crocodile,
dried by the heat of the sun, is known as *agnijāra*.

11.104

Since it is already purified by the alkali of that ocean, purification is not desired for it.
*Agnijāra* pacifies the three bodily humours, removes tetanus and other vāta diseases,
increases the potency of mercury, stimulates appetite, and digests [mercury].

Linked texts (1)

Rasendracūḍāmaṇi — Somadeva (alchemist), Sanskrit